Fans Rally Behind Caitlin Clark, Reject Conservative Media’s Angel Reese ‘Fake Friend’ Narrative – “You Should Be Embarrassed”

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have performed well together at the FIBA World Cup despite being known as heated rivals since college.

Fans Rally Behind Caitlin Clark, Reject Conservative Media’s Angel Reese ‘Fake Friend’ Narrative – “You Should Be Embarrassed”

Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark (Image via People)

After winning a tournament that restores national pride, such as the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, the likes of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and their teammates should be reveling in the success.

The group should be breathing a collective sigh of relief, as will fans, knowing USA Basketball was treated as the underdog against France, which held the No. 1 seed before the championship game after effectively dominating the competition.

Instead, the Americans proved they are still the dominant force in basketball, staying focused despite trailing by double digits and then finding the extra gear when they needed it.

After all, a variant of this team led by the best women’s basketball player on the planet, A’ja Wilson, won the Olympic gold medal in Paris partly because France forward Gabby Williams‘ foot was on the three-point line.

Now that Team USA won by 18 points, most of the questions global media had for the players were about how they managed to keep their cool and come out victorious. On the other hand, Outkick and FOX News’ Jackson Thompson asked Caitlin Clark whether she and Angel Reese were friends now.

We’ve always been friends. Don’t try to do that, don’t try to do that.

Caitlin Clark replied

The three-time All-Star kept pointing her finger at the reporter, indicating that she understood his efforts to create another divisive narrative. She said this as she walked away. Then, as Clark walked past Thompson again, she reiterated her point.

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Fans defend Caitlin Clark after conservatives claim she lied about her relationship with Angel Reese

After this clip appeared online, most fans flamed Jackson Thompson for asking such a question right after a major accomplishment. To defend his actions, Outkick’s Dan Dakich and other conservative members of the media tried to paint a narrative that the point guard was flat-out lying about her relationship with Angel Reese.

They claimed that there is enough evidence to prove that the two rivals ‘hate’ each other. Fans rallied to defend the Fever star, flaming the conservative media for trying to harbor divisiveness even though the women just came together to help the nation clinch gold. Check out examples of those reactions below.

Jackson Thompson and the conservative media have been on the front foot when it came to supporting Enes Kanter-Freedom‘s activism against the WBA’s eligibility criteria. Fans have not aggressively spoken up against it since the entire discourse does warrant some merit.

However, in this instance, fans knew that it was another blatant attempt at creating divisiveness amongst the team, considering that Thompson tried doing this before when he asked Team USA head coach Kara Lawson about starting Caitlin Clark.

When she replied that she was sticking with her current starters, Thompson asked whether she would start Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers. That was an attempt to gauge whether there was any bias against Clark.

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Caitlin Clark celebrates gold medal win with supposed heated rivals

There is a reason why Jackson Thompson asked Caitlin Clark that question. After recent instances where Angel Reese apparently showed some jealousy at the All-Star game, the discourse has reignited questions of whether the two ‘hate’ each other

Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and Rhyne Howard
Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and Rhyne Howard (Image via USA Basketball/X)

But in Germany, there was enough evidence that the two had moved past that. The two college rivals were seen sitting next to each other on multiple occasions, discussing when things were tough for Tea USA or joking around when they were having it easy

In fact, at the behest of global media, Clark posed for quite a few photos with the World Cup trophy. The only time she posed with anyone else during that session was when Reese and Rhyne Howard were beside her

The two Atlanta Dream teammates are often billed as Clark’s heated rivals, as she has clashed with them individually quite a few times. However, this photo op was after they won the gold medal together and will likely be called again to do so in two years at the 2028 Olympics. They are the Young N’ Turnt core that will define Team USA’s women’s basketball in the future

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